An EP Of Unheard Prince Tracks Has Hit Legal Troubles

The artist's estate has claimed the EP breaches a contract signed by the sound engineer.

An EP featuring unheard Prince tracks has been halted at the legal urging of Prince's estate.

Earlier this week it was announced that an EP featuring six unheardPrince tracks would be released, coinciding with the first anniversary of the artist's death.

But the EP "Deliverance" may be in a spot of legal trouble with Prince's estate filing a lawsuit against the sound engineer behind the release.

The suit claims that George Ian Boxill, Prince's longtime engineer, has possession of several unreleased tracks that he is "trying to exploit one or more songs for his personal gain at the expense of the Prince estate".

Issuing a statement to "Variety", a representative of Prince's estate confirmed that Boxill's plans to release the tracks conflicted with a signed agreement.

Like the other engineers that had the opportunity to work with Prince, Mr. Boxill signed an agreement, under which he agreed (1) all recordings that he worked on with Prince would remain Prince's sole and exclusive property; (2) he would not use any recordings or property in any way whatsoever; and (3) he would return any such recordings or property to Prince immediately upon request.

The legal battles surrounding the release of the EP has fans obviously divided; some are excited to have new music to engage with, while there are those who see it as exploitative.